Labour Party Manifesto 2010 Strengthening our communities, securing our borders
The challenge for Britain
To reduce the fear of crime by protecting frontline policing while making the police more responsive and accountable, and taking faster action on anti-social behaviour. The Tories talk tough but vote soft on issues from gun crime to DNA retention; would cut police and PCSO numbers; and favour political police chiefs over real reform. We will control immigration with our new Australian-style points-based system — unlike the arbitrary Tory quota, which would damage business and growth.
The next stage of national renewal
* Provide the funding to maintain police and PCSO numbers with neighbourhood police teams in every area, spending 80 per cent of their time on the beat visible in their neighbourhood; improve police performance through online police report cards and ensure failing forces are taken over by the best.
* Intervene earlier to prevent crime, with no-nonsense action to tackle the problems caused by 50,000 dysfunctional families.
* Guarantee fast and effective action to deal with antisocial behaviour, including a right to legal injunctions for repeat victims, funded by the police or council who let them down.
* Expand tough ‘Community Payback’ for criminals who don’t go to prison, giving everyone the right to vote on the work they do.
* Control immigration through our Australian-style points-based system, ensuring that as growth returns we see rising levels of employment and wages, not rising immigration, and requiring newcomers to earn citizenship and the entitlements it brings.
Britain is far safer now than when the Tories left office.
Crime is down by more than a third; violent crime is down by over 40 per cent, and the risk of being a victim of crime is the lowest since 1981. But people are still worried about binge drinking, problem families and anti-social behaviour. We are committed to tackling these problems, not talking them up to run Britain down.
We understand people’s concerns about immigration – about whether it will undermine their wages or job prospects, or put pressure on public services or housing – and we have acted. Asylum claims are down to the levels of the early 1990s and net inward migration has fallen. We will use our new Australian-style points-based system to ensure that as growth returns we see rising employment and wages, not rising immigration – but we reject the arbitrary and unworkable Tory quota.
Protecting frontline policing
There are now record numbers of police officers – nearly 17,000 more than in 1997 – backed up by 16,000 Police Community Support Officers. We are committed to giving the police the resources to maintain these numbers, with funding assured for the next three years. To protect the front line we are making tough choices elsewhere: continuing to cut bureaucracy and inefficiency in procurement, IT and overtime.
Every community now has a neighbourhood police team committed to spending at least 80 per cent of their time on the beat visible in
their neighbourhood, and responding to non-emergency issues within 24 hours. To ensure that communities can determine local policing priorities, neighbourhood police teams will hold monthly beat meetings -at which local people will have a right to hold senior commanders to account.
We will protect the police from politicisation, but take swift action where they are not performing. Online crime maps now give everyone monthly
information on crime in their area, and we have supported the Policing Inspectorate in publishing new online ‘report cards’, comparing how forces perform. Where a police force or local Basic Command Unit consistently fails local people, we will ensure either that the senior management team including the borough commander or chief constable is replaced, or it is taken over by a neighbouring force or BCU.
Early intervention and preventing crime
We need to do more and act earlier to stop children going down the wrong path. So we will expand Family Nurse Partnerships to all vulnerable young mothers, reducing future crime and behavioural problems. For the 50,000 most dysfunctional families who cause misery to their neighbours, we will provide Family Intervention Projects – proven to tackle anti-social behaviour – a no-nonsense regime of one-to-one support with tough sanctions for noncompliance.
Youth reoffending is now falling, and the numbers in youth custody have fallen by 30 per cent. We will expand US-style street teams which use youth pastors and vetted ex-offenders to reach out to disaffected young people; Youth Conditional Cautions which focus on rehabilitation and reparation; and we will introduce a preventative element for all Anti-Social Behaviour Orders for under 16s. To ensure there are more things for teenagers to do we will double the availability of organised youth activities on Friday and Saturday nights.
We will expand joint working between police and the probation service to supervise prolific young offenders after they get out of prison, and the use of mentors including vetted ex-prisoners to meet offenders ‘at the gate’ so they don’t slip back into crime. And alcohol treatment places will be trebled to cover all persistent criminals where alcohol is identified as a cause of their crimes.
We need to try new approaches to solving the most intractable problems. So we will pioneer Social Impact Bonds, encouraging private investors to support social entrepreneurs and the third sector – and harnessing additional investment for crime prevention at minimal cost to the taxpayer. We have shown that Restorative Justice can increase satisfaction for victims and the police, and we will bring in a Restorative Justice Act to ensure it is available wherever victims approve it.
On drugs, our message is clear: we will not tolerate illegal drug use. We have reclassified cannabis to Class B and banned ‘legal highs’. More addicts are being treated, with a higher proportion going on to drug-free lives. We will switch investment towards those programmes that are shown to sustain drug-free lives and reduce crime.
Tough action on crime and anti-social behaviour
Crime continued to fall during the recession, in marked contrast to the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s. Homicides are at the lowest level for a decade – gun murders are at their lowest for 20 years, and our gun laws are among the toughest in the world. We have strengthened the law on knife crime with jail more likely, sentences longer, and more police searches and scanners – and knife crime has fallen. We are tackling territorial youth gangs with specific police powers, and new approaches that confront gangs while supporting those who want to leave gang life.
Domestic violence has fallen by over 50 per cent since 1997, reporting of rape has doubled, and rape convictions have increased by more than 50 per cent. But we are committed to zero tolerance of violence against women, so we will continue to drive up prosecution rates, tackle causes, and raise awareness – as well as maintaining women-only services including a Sexual Assault Referral Centre in every area.
Labour is proud to be the party that legislated first to criminalise incitement to racial hatred, religious hatred, and homophobic hatred – and we will reverse the Tory attempt to undermine this latest legislation, invoking the Parliament Act if necessary to force it through.
To tackle the binge drinking which can leave people reluctant to venture into town centres at night, we have banned irresponsible promotions and strengthened police and council powers to close down rowdy pubs and clubs, cracking down on under-age and public drinking. We have brought in a right to petition local authorities to end 24-hour licensing where problems arise.
There were no specific powers against anti-social behaviour in 1997. Now there are ASBOs, parenting orders and dispersal powers. Because we know people want faster action on ASB, we will guarantee an initial response to any complaint within 24 hours. Local authorities and other agencies will be required to give people a named case worker who will report back on progress, and escalate action if the problem persists. All relevant agencies – not just neighbourhood police teams – will hold monthly public meetings to hear people’s concerns; all PCSOs will have stronger powers to tackle ASB; a ‘Respect’ standard for the private rented sector will be introduced; and local ASB champions will make agencies work together to tackle cases.
Enforcement will also be strengthened: we will ensure that the great majority of applications for ASBOs take under a month and that whenever an ASBO is breached there is an expectation of prosecution. And when someone suffers repeated ASB and the police, council, courts or other agencies fail to act, there must be a stronger form of redress. So we will legislate to give people financial support to pursue legal injunctions, with the costs met by the agency that let them down.
Using technology to cut crime
We will continue to make full use of CCTV and DNA technology: new weapons deployed to strengthen our fight against crime. We are proud of our record on civil liberties and have taken the DNA profiles of children off the database and tightened the rules around the use of surveillance – but we are also determined to keep our streets safe.
CCTV reduces the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour. We have funded cameras in nearly 700 areas, and brought in a new power for people to petition their local authority for more CCTV.
Advances in DNA technology have been critical in solving serious crimes – last year alone there were 832 positive matches to the DNA database in cases of rape, murder and manslaughter. Labour will ensure that the most serious offenders are added to the database no matter where or when they were convicted – and retain for six years the DNA profiles of those arrested but not convicted.
The new biometric ID scheme which already covers foreign nationals will be offered to an increasing number of British citizens, but will not be compulsory for them. It will help fight the growing threat of identity theft and fraud, as well as crime, illegal immigration and terrorism. In the next Parliament ID cards and the ID scheme will be self-financing. The price of the passport and ID cards together with savings from reduced fraud across the public services will fully cover the costs of the scheme.
Punishment and reform
We have provided over 26,000 more prison places since 1997. There are more criminals in prison – not because crime is rising but because violent and serious offenders are going to prison for longer. We will ensure a total of 96,000 prison places by 2014. More EU and other foreign prisoners will be transferred abroad, and we will work to reduce the number of women, young and mentally ill people in prison. Any spare capacity generated will reduce costs while protecting the public.
For offenders not sentenced to prison we have brought in tough new ‘Community Payback’: hard work in public, wearing orange jackets. We will extend nationwide the right for local people to vote on what work offenders do to pay back to the communities they have harmed.
We will always put the victim first in the criminal justice system. We are creating a National Victims Service to guarantee all victims of crime and anti-social behaviour seven-day-a-week cover and a named, dedicated worker offering one-to-one support through the trial and beyond. The compensation offenders have to pay to victims has been increased, and we will now ensure victims get this payment up front.
To help protect frontline services, we will find greater savings in legal aid and the courts system – increasing the use of successful ‘virtual courts’ which move from arrest, to trial, to sentencing in hours rather than weeks or months. We will use the tax system to claw back from higher-earning offenders a proportion of the costs of prison. Asset confiscation will be a standard principle in sentencing, extended from cash to houses and cars. Every community will have the right to vote on how these assets are used to pay back to the community.
Terrorism and organised crime
Our counter-terrorism approach is one of the most sophisticated in the world, and investment has trebled since 2001, with thousands more counterterrorist police and a doubling of security service numbers.
We will continue to give the police the tools they need to fight terrorism while giving Parliament and the courts oversight to ensure these powers are not overused. We condemn torture, and our police and security services will not co-operate with those who use torture. We will develop our Prevent strategy to combat extremism.
We will continue to make Britain a hostile place for organised criminals, harassing them with asset seizures, tax investigations and other powers;
strengthening the Serious Organised Crime Agency and encouraging police forces to cooperate across force boundaries and international borders;
and responding quickly to new threats including cybercrime.
Strong borders and immigration controls
We are committed to an immigration system that promotes and protects British values. People need to know that immigration is controlled, that the rules are firm and fair, and that there is support for communities in dealing with change.
Our borders are stronger than ever. A new Border Agency has police-level powers and thousands more immigration officers, 100 per cent of visas are now biometric, and new electronic border controls will be counting people in and out by the end of the year. Asylum claims are back down to early 1990s levels, and the cost of asylum support to the taxpayer has been cut by half in the last six years. Genuine refugees will continue to receive protection.
Our new Australian-style points-based system is ensuring we get the migrants our economy needs, but no more. We will gradually tighten the criteria in line with the needs of the
British economy and the values of British citizenship, and step up our action against illegal immigration. There will be no unskilled migration from outside the EU. Skilled jobs are now advertised here first for four weeks with more vacancies going to local workers, and public procurement will in future give priority to local people. The points-based system will be used to control migration with limits for high-skilled workers and university students. As growth returns we want to see rising levels of employment and wages, not rising immigration.
We recognise that immigration can place pressures on housing and public services in some communities so we will expand the Migration Impact Fund, paid for by contributions from migrants, to help local areas.
We know that migrants who are fluent in English are more likely to work and find it easier to integrate. So as well as making our English test harder, we will ensure it is taken by all applicants before they arrive. Local councils and other public services should keep funding for translation services to a minimum. Many public-sector workers are already required to meet minimum standards of English; we will build on this to ensure that all employees who have contact with the public possess an appropriate level of English language competence.
Because we believe coming to Britain is a privilege and not a right, we will break the automatic link between staying here for a set period and being able to settle or gain citizenship. In future, staying will be dependent on the points-based system, and access to benefits and social housing will increasingly be reserved for British citizens and permanent residents – saving the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds each year. We will continue to emphasise the value we place on citizenship, and the responsibilities as well as rights it brings, through the citizenship pledge and ceremony, and by strengthening the test of British values and traditions.
Labour Manifesto 2010
Labour Manifesto 2010 : Introduction
Labour Manifesto 2010 : Building the high-growth economy of the future
Labour Manifesto 2010 : Prosperity for all not just a few
Labour Manifesto 2010 : Excellence in education: every child the chance to fulfil their potential
Labour Manifesto 2010 : World-leading healthcare: a patient-centred NHS The challenge for Britain
Labour Manifesto 2010 : Strengthening our communities, securing our borders
Labour Manifesto 2010 : Supporting families throughout life
Labour Manifesto 2010 : A green future for Britain
Labour Manifesto 2010 : A new politics: renewing our democracy and rebuilding trust
Labour Manifesto 2010 : Meeting the challenges of the new global age
